To some spring in North America means baseball games, backyard bar-be-ques, and the joy of five pounds of pollen filling your lungs. And while for some, all that may be well and good, there are others who look forward to spring for entirely different reasons. For you see, spring is the time for Camo Workshop to once again bless wargamers everywhere with the fire and fury of new WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT upgrade patches!

Yes, once more the two greatest turn-based tactical wargames available on your PC have been weighed and measured and found worthy of cramming even more grog goodness down their throats. Like white phosphorus foie gras, these upgrades are hot, hot, hot and are ready to be applied immediately. Just don’t feed them after midnight—no wait, don’t apply them yet if in the middle of an ongoing secure PBEM game, as that will lead to failure and much weeping.

The upgrade patches bring winSPMBT up to version 7.0 and winSPWW2 to version 6.0. Both will put so much wargaming awesomeness on your computer that all other games on your hard drive will delete themselves in shame of not being worthy enough for your attention.

Yep, more new content and revisions. That disturbance you just felt? The sound of trillions of wargamers suddenly crying out in joy.

Let’s look at some of the other changes found in the upgrade patch:

* Artillery overload has been added. Over spending on artillery will now credit your opponent with extra Victory Points as a penalty for doing so.

* Windows 8 changes have been made to the Game Options launcher program and will automatically detect Windows 8. A round of applause folks for Camo Workshop, keeping their game running no matter how hard Uncle Bill spits out new operating systems.

* A new weapon class for HESH firing guns (Weapon Class 26) has been introduced.

* Small HEAT warheads are now less likely to perform above average. This chiefly affects the little 40mm and similar grenade launcher warheads, such as the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch (secret weapon unlocked after reaching level 40).

* Units with Laser Range Finder (20+ RF) and higher fire control (30+ FC) can get critical hits out to 1 kilometer as opposed to the rest that have a 500 meter limit. Nat 20, baby!

* Buttoned vehicle movement cost is increased by 1 per hex.

And so much more, but we can’t turn a press release into a dissertation, so you’ll have to read about the rest in your updated online game manual post-patch.

Please turn your attention now to the upgrade for winSPWW2. First, by the digits:

7 New Scenarios

45 Revised Scenarios

1 New Campaign

5 Revised Campaigns

15 Revised Campaign files

7 New Maps

1 New Sound file

154 New or revised Photos

76 New or revised Icons

36 Updated OOB files

27 Revised Icon Graphic files

5 New or Revised Text files

Upgraded SHPEdit, MOBHack, Cost Calculator, ScenHack, Camo Map Editor

Shiny new content and revisions! Let’s look at some of the more detailed changes…

* Germany late in the war, as well as USSR and Finland, will now buy demolitions in the delay or defense, especially in city maps.

* The US Army WW2 LC now starts later, avoiding the Aleutian campaign now in Torch (user has option to choose Pacific if desired of course). The Aleutians are now only available for generated battles at the appropriate date.

* Unit Class 206 was Mountain Support. It is now Mountain Infantry AT, as that was what it was mainly being used for and it now uses the Inf-AT graphic.

* Map vision algorithm changes have been made. The game is now more likely to produce both high (70-80 hex visibility) sunny days and also some night (1-4 hex) visibility conditions. Rooster trails of dust from moving vehicles in deserts and dry summer conditions have been adjusted upwards by 10 hexes to allow for the higher typical visibility. (Previously the game tended to produce too many low visibility days of 20-40 hexes maximum visibility, i.e. an overcast day).

* 26 pages of suggested OOB changes and/or corrections have been reviewed, researched and applied to the game along with a number of changes we made to enhance OOB accuracy and/or completeness.

And as above, so below. Read a complete list of changes in the online game manual.

A cool change to both games is available to owners of the Enhanced Editions, both the physical CD and the downloadable version. Now when the mouse cursor is passed over a hex the following information will be displayed: ground height, obstacle height, total height, and terrain density. Before the only information was height and terrain type.

While height is self-explanatory “density” is a value the game uses to determine how solid or transparent a bit of terrain is. For example, trees block Line of Sight (LOS) to the next hex when they are greater than 30 density. If they are under 31 LOS is deemed not fully blocked and you can see into the hexes beyond that hex.

Density is cumulative for purposes of LOS. A hex with trees that have a density rating of 20 will not block LOS to the hex beyond it but if that hex has trees that are also have a density rating of 20, LOS will be blocked beyond that hex.

The game has worked this way since Steel Panthers 1 was first released, it’s just being displayed to players for the first time. And remember, it’s only available for owners of the Enhanced Edition, yet another reason to upgun your copy from the free download!

winSPMBT and winSPWW2 are simply the best bleeping tactical wargames focusing on combined arms warfare that you can play on your computer. These are games that have a staying power unlike anything else on your machine.

First, there’s the fact that between the two games you’re covering land warfare from the early thirties to 2020, along with about waging said warfare with about anything and everything on the planet. About the only thing you can’t simulate is the great penguin and polar bear conflicts of the early ‘50s, when the two finally forced each other to separate parts of the globe.

Next, look at everything you can do between the two. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of scenarios, the count of which only increases with time, multiple campaigns, multiplayer suppport, and fairly easy editing capabilities.

Finally, while both games have a lot going on under the hood and can be played as such, it’s also entirely possible to play with a simplistic run and gun mentality and have fun. This makes it perfect for a wide range of gamers, from those first learning what ZOC means to those that were down in the trenches back in the ‘70s. With their turn based gameplay and hex maps board game veterans will feel right at home, while enjoying the lack of need for tackleboxes full of counters.

winSPMBT and winSPWW2 are available in three different formats. There is a free version that includes all the general content. Then there are two Enhanced Editions that sound just like the name, providing enhanced capabilities above the general gameplay content. One version is a physical CD while the other is a download.

To get your gaming on please visit us at www.shrapnelgames.com. Check out our catalog of eclectic strategy titles and download demos for all our titles! And look for our Spring Sale, starting today and running thru April 28th.

Two desires for sometime in the future: Printable topographic maps prior to the scrimmage, even if it's black and white. Online real-time turn-based. Time limited turns would be on mutual agreement. Other option would be real-time continuous flow. Time is king and as currently organized fealty to time is not properly shown.

Hi
Can you tell me how to down load SPWW2 & SPMBT Spring upgrade
or do i have to purchase them
I am enjoying SPWW2 & SPMBT but in SPWW2 there is very little UK/ British involvement were they there?
are there any customers scenarios or campaigns is so where can I down load them. I have searched but not succeded
hoping you can help
Yours
signalman